Charging device for furnaces.



Nari 337,637. PATBNTED DEC. 4, 1906.

J. w. NBILL. CHARGING DBVIGE FOR FURNACES.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 20. 1904.

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No. 837,637. PATENTED DEC. 4, 1906.

J. W. NEILL.

CHARGING DEVICE FOR FURNACES. APPLICATION TILED my 20. 1904.

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N0- 837,63'7, A PATENTED DEC. 4, 1906. J. W. NEILL.

CHARGING DBVIGB POR FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED KAY 20.1904.

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No. 837,637. PATENTED DEC. 4, 1906.

J. w. NEILL. CHARGING DEVICE FOR FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20.1904.

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JAMES W. NEILL, OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.

CHARGING DEVICE FOR FURNACES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 4, 1906.

Application filed May 20, 1904:. Serial No. 208,810-

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES W. NEILL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Salt Lake City, in the county of Salt Lake and State of Utah, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Charging Devices for Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to a new and improved device for charging blast-furnaces.

The general object of my invention is to provide a mechanical means whereby the charge may be evenly disposed or distributed in the furnace and whereby the location or disposition of successive charges may be accurately determined in order to adjust the charge to any variable action of the blast in different portions of the stock within the furnace.

In many smelting plants the operation of charging the furnace is performed by handlabor, the ore being shoveled into the furnace. This is an expensive method, but is continued because the usual mechanical charging methods do not give an even layer or mixture of the ore and other constituents of the charge. To avoid the excessive cost of this handshoveling is one of the objects of my invention.

A further object of my invention is to avoid the separation of the coarse and fine constitutents of the charge in the operation of delivering them into the furnace mechanically, and thereby to secure a greater homogeneity in the mass of material which is being acted upon.

My invention is especially useful for smelting-furnaces .used for smelting copper, silver, gold, or other ores. Heretofore in the operation of feeding blast-furnaces mechanically the practice has been to dump the materials into the furnace direct through suitable chutes, down which the material slides or rolls as on an incline several feet before reaching the stock-line of the furnace. In this operation there is a tendency of the coarse and fine parts of the charge to separate if the charge be made up before dumping and for the coarse and fine materials to be deposited in different places on the stock within the furnace. Moreover, the same difficulty arises when the different constituents are fed separately down such an incline, the coarser and finer pieces of material tending to take different trajectories and to deposit themselves in different places. In other cases ityhas been proposed to feed the materials from acharging-floor into an inclined grating within the furnace, the bars of said grating being gradually narrowed or tapered toward their inner ends, so as to leave openings by which when the charge is dumped said charge will be screened and the finer particles dropped through the gratings near the walls, While the coarser ones are carried toward the cen ter. In this case also there is a localization of the coarser and finer pieces in different places.

The object of my invention is to obviate the objections incident to former constructions and to secure a perfectly-uniform disposition of the charge in the furnace or to vary the disposition of the same at will; and to this end my invention consists, first, in the combination, with a hopper into which the charge may be delivered and having a hinged door at its bottom, of a pivoted or hinged distributing-plate disposed beneath the hopperdoor and adapted to receive the contents of the hopper when the hopper gate or door is opened. By this construction materials charged into the hopper will start from a state of rest and move directly onto the distributing-plate which plate being imp erforate and being capable of adjustment to various inclinations will act to determine or vary .the trajectory of the material as it leaves the end of the plate, and thus determine the distribution of the material on the stock in the furnace. By providing similar devices at both of the two opposite sides of the furnace the charges can be delivered at all points and the distribution of the charge perfectly controlled.

My invention consists, further, in the novel combinationsof devices for operating or controlling the position of the gates and distributingplates, either separately or together, and in the details of construction, as hereinafter more particularly described, and then specified in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a charging device and furnace constructed and combined in accordance with my invention. I Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a front or rear elevation, the hoppers being removed. Fig. 4 shows in detail the operating mechaning apparatus and supporting above it the brickwork of the furnace-top. In this frameapplied to a rectangular blast-furnace above the usual deck-beams, (indicated in dotted lines at A,) superposed upon which is the brickwork and the cast-iron framework B, carrying the wrought-iron work of the chargwork are the openings through which the 7 material is charged sidewise into the furnace.

0 indicates a hopper or hoppers which extend, preferablyithe full length of the furnace and are preferab y applied at each side thereof, as shown. These may be made of sheetsteel or other suitable material and sup ported on the cast-iron framework or on other suitable support and in proper position to deliver the material with which they are charged through the openings in the framework into the furnace. As usual the hopper is provided with a suitable inclined bottom, so that when the material charged into the same is released it will readily slide through the opening at the bottom, which is closed during the placing of the material in the hopper by a suitable gate or gates D. The bottom of the hopper may be inclined at any suitable angle toward the furnace. As shown in the front or rear elevation, Fig. 3, two gates D are employed, cooperating each with its own hopper or section of hopper, so that a charge may be delivered into the furnace from one side thereof at either end. At

the opposite side of the furnace the gates may be operated in a similar way. These gates D may be mounted in any suitable manner to permit the opening from the hopper into the furnace to be closed or opened at will. Preferably they are made as swinging gates or doors and of cast-iron or other suitable material and are attached to shafts E, mounted to turn in suitable bearings E, secured to the framework or other suitable support. To these shafts are connected operating mechanism by which the doors or gates may be swung or moved inward toward the furnace to open the hopper and allow the charge of ore, coke, or other materials to slide into the furnace.

For the general purposes of my invention it would be sufficient to employ any kind of operating mechanism; but it is frequently desirable to so organize the device that a pair of said gates at one end of the furnace may be operated together. To permit this to be done, while at the same time making it possible to operate said gates independently of one another, the following devices may be employed:

Mounted on a suitable shaft F, carrying the hangers or stirrups F, is an operating-lever G, which may be a hand-lever and which turns freely on said shaft. Also turned loosely on said shaft or bearing F and prefer ably at opposite sides of the lever G are hollow shafts or thimbles- H, each having a crank-arm H connected by a link I with a crank-arm K, extending from the shaft carrying the door D. Also carried by the said shafts H are the lock-disks h, cooperating with which are a pair of locking-dogs carried by the rods L, both of which latter are conveniently mounted on the operating-lever G. These links I for the two doors at opposite sides of the furnace extend in opposite directions from their respective crank-arms H, as shown more clearly in Figs. 2 and 4.

It is obvious that by operating these pullrods L the operating-lever may be locked to eitheror both of the rock-shafts H, connected with the doors D. When locked to both of them, the movement of the lever from right to left, as indicated in Fig. 2, will open both of the doors or gates, as indicated in the dotted lines in that figure, while to open one of them only it is only necessary to withdraw one of the dogs from its notch in the locking disk or plate h. I

The parts are so arranged that when the gates are swung to closed position the pivotal point of connection of the crank-arm H with the link I will pass to or slightly beyond the center of the shaft on which the part H turns, so that the line of pull on the link I from the effort of the gate to open under the weight of the material in the hopper will coincide with the line of the shaft, and thereby keep the gate locked until the operatinglever or other-device is thrown over. By these devices it is possible obviously to operate either or both of the gates at one end of the furnace. If it were desirable to operate those at the other end at the same time, it would be obviously possible to do so by simply coupling the shafts for those gates by any suitable means to the shafts for the gates at the other end of the furnace and in line with them. This could obviously be done by providing the abutting ends of the shafts with a pair of disks M, as illustrated in Fig. 7, which could be at will coupled or uncoupled by the insertion or withdrawal of a detachable pin or bolt passing through them.

Into the hoppers C the materials are dumped from a car or other vessel in proper proportions, preferably the coke first, and, if desired, in a number of layers, which may be spread or distributed evenly. During this charging the doors or gates D are kept closed. After charging of the hoppers the gates are opened, and the charge therein will slide easily and with little disturbance in the relative distribution of the coarse and fines, the material being delivered into the body of the furnace by a suitable extension of the hopper-bottom. This is brought about by giving a suitable incline to the bottom of the hopper and by locating the hopper or the extension of the bottom thereof immediately above the line of the water-jacket, which marks approximately the top line of the stock. The simultaneous delivery of the charge of the entire contents of the two hoppers may be effected obviously by actuating the two operating-levers or by actuating one of them if the shafts carrying the gates be properly coupled to one another. If, however, for any reason the furnace be operating slowly in one corner and it is not expedient to place more material in this corner, then the gate at that corner may be thrown out of operation and the charge placed in the three remaining corners by opening the three other ates.

6 To further aid in distributing the charge, I provide a distributing-plate or hopper-lip O for each hopper or section of hopper. This distributing-plate is properly mounted, so that by suit able means its inclination may be varied, thus altering the angle of slope and the speed of the materials charged into the furnace from the hopper, so that the distance that they shall pass toward the center line of the furnace may be varied.

The distributing-plates 0 may be hung, as shown, on suitable shafts P, attached to the framework, and may be acutated by hand or other levers \Vhen the distributing-plate is left down, as shown in full lines, the charge slides directly to place, and when it is desired to fill the middle of the furnace the plate is raised to the position shown in dotted lines, so that by suitably manipulating the levers Q and altering the position or inclination of the plates the surface of the stock in the furnace may be maintained at practical level and the best results obtained.

The lower edge of each distributing-plate is located out of the line of the blast, and,moreover, the said plate is so located in the opening in the wall of the furnace that when the plate is lifted a space is left for the insertion of a hook or bar to adjust the charge.

The distributing-plate maybe held 1n position by a suitable catch, which may consist of a dog R, pivoted to the side of the lever Q and adapted to engage with the teeth in a fixed plate S, secured in proper position to the side of the hopper or other suitable sub port, as shown more particularly in Fig. 2.

For further convenience in operating the furnace the ends may be fitted with sliding doors T, adapted to close openings in said ends.

In many plants the materials are brought from the ore bins or yard in large cars or lorries, and these are dumped into the furnace direct, this being done by having the bottom of the furnace-doors inclined and this incline prolonged, so that the material will fall directly into the furnace, rolling down this inclined; chute often several feet before reaching the stock-line of the furnace. By my invention the materials to compose the charge may be regularly placed and spread in the hoppers, if so desired, and upon opening the doors the charge slides in mass into the furnace without the several parts having time to roll or for the coarse and fines to separate, and as the materials start from a state of rest at a point only some two feet above the top of the Waterjackets they arrive in the furnace practically in the condition in which they were placed in the hopper. By the aid of the distributing-plates the placing of the charge is facilitated.

When the same different materials are dumped in separate portions from the chargecars into the furnace, there is a separation of coarse from fine, and serious troubles usually result from such feeding.

I am aware that it has been proposed to arrange hoppers with movable gates at one side of the furnace and also that a number of feed-openings have been disposed around the furnace, as shown in patent of Harris, No. 123,894. I am also aware that it has been proposed to provide a grating within the furnace, such grating being formed of inclined bars, through which the material escapes, and I do not, therefore, wish to be understood as claiming any of the foregoing arrangements broadly.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a charging device for blast-furnaces, the combination of a hopper adapted to receive a charge and having a movable gate or door at its lower end, an inclined imperforate feed-plate adapted to receive the charge from the hopper when the gate is lifted and arranged in an opening in the side of the furnace and means for adjusting the inclination of said plate to change the trajectory of the pieces of material as they leave said late.

2. In a charging device for blasturnaces, the combination of an inclined imperforate plate located in the wall of the furnace and adapted to feed a charge of material into the furnace through an opening in the side thereof when fixed in position, and means for fixing said plate at any desired degree of incli nation to vary the trajectory of the material and thereby determine the location of the deposited material.

3. In a blast-furnace, the combination of a series of hoppers located at opposite sides of the furnace and each provided with a gate or door, an inclined imperforate plate for each hopper arranged in an opening in the side of the furnace and adapted to receive the charge When the gate is opened and means for fixing said plate at any desired angle to determine the trajectory of the material which passes over said plate.

4. The combination with a pair of charging gates or openings located at opposite sides of the furnace, of a common operatinglever for the same, a pair of rocksl1afts coupled respectively with said gates by suitable 10 links and a pair of independently-operable locking-dogs carried by the lever and adapted to couple the same to either or both of said rock-shafts.

Signed at Butte, in the county of Silverbow and State of Montana, this 15th day of I5 March, A. D. 1904:.

JAMES W. NEILL. Witnesses:

JAMES M. DENNY, R. A. CARNOOHAN. 

